by Abby Brooks
“No? I didn’t think so.” Dominic looks around the bar, spying the manager’s office that Jake holes up in each night. “This place isn’t very big and that office isn’t very far away. Are you telling me that you didn’t hear all the ruckus just a few minutes ago?”
Big Jake set his jaw. “It’s none of your business what I heard or didn’t hear.”
“It might not be mine.” Dominic shrugs. “But it is hers. And I’m sure the police will also consider it their business.”
Big Jake looks at me with rage burning in his eyes. “I’m sure she won’t be going to the cops. She likes her job too much.”
“You’re just as dumb as you are big, aren’t you?” Dominic helps me to stand. “So not only did you allow her to be assaulted in your bar because you liked the idea of the publicity, but now you’re threatening her employment if she goes to the authorities? You just keep on making these great decisions, don’t you?”
The look on Big Jake’s face says that Dominic hit the nail on the head. He knew what was going on out here and let it happen because the cameras were rolling. Asshole.
“Dakota and I are leaving. She might be gone for a while. But if she comes back, she will have a job. Understood?” Dominic levels a finger at Big Jake and I swear if looks could kill, both of them would drop dead.
Big Jake nods and Dominic leads me out of the bar, his hand on my lower back, fingers splayed wide. Strong, firm, and in control.
Chapter Fourteen
We stumble into the parking lot and I’m an absolute mess. My insides are all quivery and I’m fighting back a wave of near insane laughter. “I can’t believe you talked to Big Jake like that,” I say. “After you pulled some guy off me and backed him down with nothing more than your voice.”
“My arm around his neck probably had something to do with it, too.”
“Yeah, but…” I pull him close to me. “I’ve never felt so safe. I can’t believe I’ve got a big burly man like you to take care of me.”
Dominic wraps his arms around me and puts his forehead to mine. “As long as I’m around, no one’s gonna bother you, sweet stuff.”
Yeah. But how long are you going to be around?
I choke back the thought before it works its way out of my mouth. I haven’t brought up the fact that he’s leaving yet so why start now? Knowing isn’t going to change the inevitability of it all. I think I’d rather live blissfully oblivious.
Dominic kisses the very tip of my nose and for whatever reason, that turns me on more than anything that’s ever been done to me in all of my life. I arch my back a little, press my breasts into him. Reach down between us and grab his cock, smiling when I find that he’s already hard.
“Come home with me?” I ask in my best sultry voice. “Kiss me and make it all better?”
Dominic presses his hips forward, the tiniest of thrusts into my hands. “I’ll do more than kiss you.” And then he leans down and whispers the dirtiest of things to me. I flush, heat rushing to both my cheeks and to my panties. “And that’s just to get started, sweet stuff.”
We decide to take my car and leave his rental in the parking lot. I slide into the driver’s seat, and buckle up, pressing my thighs together against the ache between them. Lust mixes with fear and adrenaline and I don’t think I’ve ever been this wet without someone actually touching me.
“Spread your legs,” says Dominic as I pull out of the lot and onto the road.
I don’t think, I just do what he tells me, my body acting before my brain has a chance to chime in. Dominic slides his hand up my thigh, caressing the skin just below the hem of my skirt. I rock my hips forward and open my knees even further, inviting him to move higher.
“I love it when you touch me.”
“Do you? Good. Because I love touching you.” He slides his hand up the delicate skin of my inner thigh, tracing the edge of my panties. “And I love making you feel good.”
What I want to say is that he makes me feel better than anyone I’ve ever met, but that seems a little intense for a guy I’ve only known a week. A guy who will be leaving any day now.
“Then don’t stop,” I say when I mean don’t go.
Dominic takes me at my word and slides past my panties, dips a finger between my slick folds. “You get so wet for me, Dakota.”
“Only for you. I’ve never gotten this wet before.”
Never ever. In fact, I’ve gotten in the habit of going down on a guy before sex, leaving him all wet so he can slide into me and never know that I’m not as turned on as I should be. Up until now, I always thought that meant I was broken. Maybe the problem wasn’t really mine, after all.
“You mean this is just for me?” He dips a finger inside me as I flip on my turn signal. This is hard, concentrating on the road while he’s doing what he’s doing to me.
“All for you.” I lean my head back against my seat and sigh.
Dominic pulls his hand back and leaves it resting on my thigh. “Then get us home. Now. So I can take what’s mine.” I drive the rest of the way home, chest heaving, aware of the wet mark on my thigh from his finger.
We get into my apartment in a flurry of energy, his hands on my body, my eyes on his. I barely get the door shut before Dominic slides his hands under my ass and picks me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and clutch at his strong back, marveling as he takes the stairs without even grunting under my weight. He puts me down in my bedroom and I feel naked the moment he lets go of me.
I need his arms around me. I need his heat. I need him to fill me and make me feel whole. To cover my body with his and make me feel safe. To look at me like I’m the only woman in the entire world.
He lifts my shirt over my head and his mouth falls open. I look down and find a long scrape—red and angry and already starting to bruise. It extends down my ribcage and disappears into my skirt. Dominic trails his fingers down it, a scowl darkening his eyes.
“I’m okay,” I say.
“No. You’re not.” He tugs at my skirt, dropping it to the floor so I’m standing in front of him in my bra and panties. The mark extends down to my hipbone where a purple bruise has blossomed. Dominic runs a finger down the edge of the mark. “That asshole hurt you.”
“But you saved me.” I capture his eyes with mine. “I’m okay because of you.”
“But what if I hadn’t been there?” There’s something behind his question. Something I’m afraid to put my finger on because what I think he’s saying is that he’s leaving soon and won’t be there next time.
“But you were.” I say. “And you’re here now. And I’m safe. And I’m with you. And I need you to take me right now because I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
Dominic’s eyes hit mine, dark and hungry, hooded with lust.
“Take care of me, Dominic.”
He lifts me up, gently this time, and puts me down on my bed. Pulls off my panties and drops them onto the floor before kissing his way back up my legs. I lift my head from the pillow and spread my thighs. It’s been a long time since anyone’s been down there like that and seeing him smile up at me makes me combust.
He drags his tongue up my slit and I drop my head with a groan. When he adds his fingers—first one, then two—working inside me in a rhythm I can’t resist, my hips start to rock, my back arching, my chest heaving. I squeeze my breasts and roll my nipples through the fabric of my bra.
“Does that feel good?” he asks, his fingers still moving inside me. He sucks on my clit, licks it, and then sucks on it again and I can’t find it in me to answer him. I’ve lost the ability to make words that make sense. I writhe with my growing orgasm, the sounds I try to form into words escaping my lips in hitching gasps.
“Lose control. Give it to me. Trust me to take care of you the way you deserve.” Dominic speaks in between licking and sucking, all the while his fingers working inside me, and my inner muscles begin to clench. “That’s it, Dakota. Give in.”
And I do. The power of hearing
my name in his voice sends me over the edge. I come loudly. Screaming his name. Turning my head and biting my shoulder and screaming some more. As my orgasm subsides, Dominic sits up and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Pulls his shirt over his head and slides out of his pants.
I want him inside me. I want it now. I need him to fill me up the way only he has ever been able to do. Hit that spot that only he has ever been able to find. I ache for him.
Instead, he kneels on the bed near the pillows, stroking his thick cock in his hand. “Suck me off. Let me feel that pretty mouth.”
Good God, he doesn’t have to tell me twice. I sit up and take him between my lips, swirling my tongue around his tip. He drops his head back and groans when I take him all the way to the back of my throat. Stares down at me when I pull back and alternate between sucking and licking him with just the lightest of touches, teasing him. He groans.
“Take it, Dakota. All the way.”
I open my mouth and he slides himself in while I tighten my lips around him. His hand goes to my hair and he rocks his hips and holy shit do I ever love the way it feels. He pulls away and I drop back on the bed, panting. Arms over head, hair flung out around me.
Dominic smiles down at me. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he says as he climbs off the bed and pulls a condom out of his pants.
“I could say the same thing about you.” I can’t take my eyes off his dick.
“You just like my magic penis.” He strokes himself and I bite my lip.
“You do have a magic penis. Does things to me I never knew were even possible.”
Dominic rolls on the condom. “I’m going to do those things to you now.”
“Dominic?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop talking and come fuck me.”
“Are you feeling tough now? You get in one bar fight and suddenly you’re tough as nails?” Dominic crawls onto the bed, kissing his way up my body. He hovers near my face, supporting himself with his arms. Kisses me and I taste myself while he slides inside. “Is this what you want?” He takes my bottom lip between his teeth and gives his hips a firm thrust.
I whimper and manage to make an affirmative sound. Dominic thrusts into me again. “I can’t hear you.” He rolls his hips. “Speak up.”
“Can’t talk,” I manage. “Magic penis.”
Dominic begins to move in earnest, hitting that spot, that wonderful spot that takes me to places I’ve never been before. “Is this what you want, Dakota?”
He pushes into me again and again and I moan, barely able to process his question.
“Answer me.” He picks up speed. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” I blurt out as an orgasm overtakes me. “God yes!” My breath hitches. “I want you! Fuck! I want you!” I grip his arms and dig in with my fingers as I lose all ability to communicate. Dominic moves faster, his hips rolling, his cock sliding in and out of me, pushing me further and further over the edge until I’m screaming his name. I bite my pillow to help keep myself quiet and let myself ride the waves of ecstasy until Dominic shudders and comes with long groan.
Chapter Fifteen
I collapse on the bed next to Dakota and pull her in close. She wraps an arm around me and lays her head on my chest. When I walked into The Bad Apple tonight and saw her struggling with that asshole my stomach dropped and my heart stopped and I had that guy in my hands before I even knew what was going on. And when her boss came lumbering up to us, giving her a hard time about sitting with me, I felt an echo of that same urge to keep her safe. I was threatening the man before I even had a chance to think about how big he is.
But when I took her shirt off and saw that long scrape marring her perfect body, welting up and threatening to bruise in ways that would make a boxer cringe, I lost myself to the desire to protect her. I know now that I can’t leave her here. I can’t go off to Vegas with her here and people trying to take advantage of her like that all because of the video I posted of us at the bar.
She hasn’t asked me when I’m leaving, but I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t care. I think it’s because she cares too much. It’s such a shame that we had to meet like this, with her here and me everywhere else. It would almost be better if we had never met, so she could keep living her life and I could keep living mine and no one would have to worry about being hurt when I leave.
Because I have to leave. I don’t have a choice.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, propping herself up on an elbow so she can see my face.
I take a long breath. “Leaving.” Pain shoots through her face and I hate myself a little. “I have to leave soon.”
Dakota sighs and drops down onto the bed. Stares up at the ceiling. “I know.”
I don’t know what to say to make this any easier. Don’t know why I had to bring it up now. Couldn’t I have just kept my mouth shut and let us enjoy laying here together a little longer? “I don’t want to. I need you to know that. It’s the first time since I started traveling that I actually wanted to stay where I was a little longer.”
“A little longer.” She sighs again. “That’s all I was ever going to get with you. I knew it. I just kept thinking if I didn’t bring it up, I might get just a little more time. That the day you had to leave would keep on not coming.”
We lay like that for a while, side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Both of us lost in our thoughts, separated by the truth of our reality. I hate it. I really do. And then a thought sneaks into my head. A crazy thought. One that’s totally off the wall. Ridiculous.
I prop myself up and look at her. “Come with me.”
Her eyes go wide and she looks at me in shock. “What?”
“I’m going to Arizona. First the Grand Canyon, then Vegas. Come with me.” My heart is beating faster and I can’t stop smiling at the thought of having Dakota by my side for a little longer.
“I can’t just leave,” she says, although the look on her face is begging me to tell her otherwise. “I’ll get fired.”
“No, you won’t.” I sit all the way up, too excited to stay still. “We pretty much told your boss you wouldn’t be in for a while and that if he got any crazy ideas to fire you that we’d go to the police about the assault.”
“Yeah,” Dakota says, pulling herself up to a sitting position, not bothering to clutch the bed sheet to her chest. “But he’s not going to take that seriously.”
“I bet he will. That kind of bad publicity? He’s not looking for that. I promise you.”
“But my apartment? What about it?”
“I’m not asking you to travel the world with me.” Yet, I add in my head. “You’ll be gone a week or two and then come back. It’s a vacation.” I shrug. “Everyone takes vacations.”
She’s nodding now and I can tell she’s all about this idea. “Everyone takes vacations. And I’ve always wanted to go out west. Well, hell. I’ve always wanted to go everywhere. See everything.” Her smile lights up her eyes and I love it. “Are you serious? You want me to come with you?”
“Serious as I’ve ever been. But listen. We’d be staying in a resort in Vegas, but I don’t have a hotel for the Grand Canyon. I’m just going to camp at the campgrounds. Are you up for that?”
“You want me to fly to Arizona with you, where you have no place to stay? Just pitch a tent somewhere and call it good?”
“Yep. That’s just the way I live. What better way to experience life than to just get down and dirty and in it, you know?”
She nods. “Yeah. I think I do know.”
“So you’ll come?” Holy shit, this is so fucking crazy.
“Yeah,” she says tentatively and then takes a breath and unleashes that beautiful smile. “Yes. I will totally fly across the country with you on a moment’s notice without a guaranteed place to stay.” She laughs. “Is it crazy that I’m so excited about this?”
“Maybe a little.” I kiss her. “But I’m excited too.”
“Good. Then we can
be crazy together.”
Chapter Sixteen
“But what happened to you making positive decisions about men?” Chelsea is perched on the edge of my bed, an untouched glass of wine in her hand.
I grab another handful of panties out of my drawer and put them in my suitcase. “This is a positive decision about men.”
“No. This is impulsive. It’s rash. It’s…” Chelsea shakes her head and looks to Maya for help. “It’s crazy. That’s what it is.”
I beam. I can’t help it. “You’re right. It’s totally crazy. And that’s why it’s a good decision.” I have no idea how long I’ll be gone. Dominic said we’ll be at the Grand Canyon for a day or two and then Vegas for a few days. That’s about as specific as he got. Since we we’ll be camping when we first get to Arizona, I’m packing small.
Chelsea takes a polite sip of her wine. “I think you’re making a terrible decision. What about your job? What if this guy is a weirdo? You’ve only known him for what? A week?” She looks at me and I see the tension knitting her eyebrows together. “I’m worried about you, Ko.”
Oh, hell. She’s pulling out childhood nicknames and everything. I sit down next to her on the bed and lean my head on her shoulder. “I get it. But you don’t have to worry. Even if he turns out to be a total weirdo, I’ll be okay.”
“But how?” Chelsea looks forlorn. She’s taking this way worse than I thought she would.
“Because Dakota can take care of herself,” says Maya from her place in my favorite chair in the whole world. “If things go wrong, she’ll come home.”
I nod my head emphatically. “Bingo.”
“But—” Chelsea’s still shaking her head and I’m afraid we’re just going to have to end up agreeing to disagree on this one.
I get up and kneel on the floor in front of her, put my hands on her knees. “Your perfect life isn’t my perfect life. I know you want to find a great guy who is stable. You’ll date for a while and then after the perfect socially acceptable amount of time, he’ll get down on one knee and propose. You’ll move into your house in the suburbs. Raise a few kids who color inside the lines and play varsity and get scholarships to the college of their choice. The whole American Dream wrapped up in a white picket fence. But that’s not me.”